They always say that confession is good for the soul, so here goes; I hate snakes!\u00a0 There’s really nothing more to add to that statement, I will be the first to admit I have an unnatural fear of them.\u00a0 That is really odd since I have lived and grown up in the south in wooded areas.\u00a0 I have gotten a little better over the past several years, but I still don’t enjoy the thought of my path crossing the path of a snake, and therefore today is not a real good day for me.\u00a0 Although I did not see it I did get a call from my wife today saying that she and the boys saw a snake outside of our front door.\u00a0 I was driving back and my only thought is, that thing is going to get away and get bigger and one day I’m going to be its dinner (ok maybe a slight exaggeration there).\u00a0 But I’m not happy that I wasn’t home to first identify it to know whether or not it is poisonous and to introduce it to my motto about its kind.\u00a0 My motto regarding snakes is: large or small, kill them all!<\/p>\n
However, as a Bible believing disciple of Christ I have to understand something.\u00a0 An all-knowing, Sovereign God created that nasty little creature.\u00a0 And because God is a God of order and purpose then I am faced with the reality that God created the snake for a purpose.\u00a0 In fact as we read the creation account in Genesis (yes I do believe in a literal 24 hour, six days of creation account), God said a curious phrase after the close of each day.\u00a0 The phrase is “and God saw that it was good.”\u00a0 In fact God said that phrase six times.\u00a0 There is only one time in which God did not say “it was good” and no it’s not after creating snakes.\u00a0 It was the man should not be alone (that is for another post at another time).\u00a0 Therefore, on the sixth day, the same day that God created Adam, He created snakes and other animals and He said “and it was good.”\u00a0 Therefore we come to the inescapable conclusion that everything God created was good.\u00a0 This speaks to its original design and intent, sin and depravity have gravely skewered God’s original design.\u00a0 Snakes were created for a purpose.\u00a0 Those of you who enjoy wildlife can and have shared with me the usefulness of snakes.\u00a0 I agree they do serve a purpose (I just wish they would keep their purpose in the woods and not beside my front door).\u00a0 But that got me to thinking about how the phrase “and it was good” applies to people.<\/p>\n
I watched a video yesterday sent by a church leadership website.\u00a0 It was about this young lady who has a disease, but one of her high school classmates posted an 8 second video about her and titled it, “The World’s Ugliest Girl.”\u00a0 If that wasn’t bad enough, by the time the young lady found it, there had been over 4 million views and over 1,000 comments, and none of them were positive.\u00a0 It was a complete fluke that this young lady found the video about her.\u00a0 She was actually surfing YouTube listening to music and it appeared over on the right hand column up under suggested videos.\u00a0 Imagine that you have a disease that has really disfigured your entire body and how that would effect you to begin with.\u00a0 Now let a bunch of people call you the ugliest person alive and countless others tell you to kill yourself, and even how to do it.\u00a0 The young lady has an amazing testimony for Christ in spite of all of this.\u00a0 This video and even the snake today got me to thinking and lead me to ask this question, how many times or how many people have we discredited, discarded, or thought were useless just because we didn’t like something about them?\u00a0 Has it happened to you?\u00a0 Kids and adults get picked on and ridiculed for being overweight, having glasses, having braces, talking funny, having a learning disability, having a physical deformity, and many other things.\u00a0 Many times we listen to satan when he tells us that we are useless.\u00a0 Many people don’t believe God can use them because satan whispers the lie to them, “I thought you were a Christian, how could a Christian do that?”\u00a0 Paul speaking to the Ephesian Christians writes, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”\u00a0 I love that verse because it reminds me that when God created me, He had a purpose in mind for my life.\u00a0 I’m not junk, I am different, I am unique, but all of that is because God created me to work through me to make His name and His greatness known.\u00a0 We need to realize that we are created in the image of Almighty God, that there is no higher purpose than having a relationship with Him, and through that relationship He is going to use us to do amazing things for His kingdom.<\/p>\n
When God made you He was saying “it was good.”\u00a0 We were created for more than just a mere existence and then death.\u00a0 We were created by God and for God (Col. 1:16).\u00a0 The question is, will we live for God and allow Him to do that good through us?<\/p>\n
By His grace and through His strength may we live for Him<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
They always say that confession is good for the soul, so here goes; I hate snakes!\u00a0 There’s really nothing more to add to that statement, I will be the first to admit I have an unnatural fear of them.\u00a0 That … Read More